Abstract

The oxygenator with hollow fiber membranes (HFMs) is the key component of the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation which allows the blood to be oxygenated and the carbon dioxide to be removed. The poly(4-methyl-1-pentene) (PMP) is recognized as the optimal oxygenated membrane material with high gas permeability coefficient, and the oxygenated membrane fabricated from it has an asymmetric structure that can resist plasma leakage for a long period of time. However, the relatively low rigidity of PMP oxygenated membrane makes it difficult to be processed in subsequent weaving and applications, during which deformation and fracture of HFMs often happen. In this work, the polymer alloy oxygenated membranes are fabricated by blending polypropylene (PP) as a high rigidity reinforcement agent with PMP via thermally induced phase separation (TIPS). Firstly, the effect of the PP content on phase separation structure and crystallization of alloy flat sheet membrane are investigated. When the PP content is 15 wt%, the rigidity of the alloy membrane reinforces dramatically. The elastic modulus and tensile strength of the PMP-PP-15 alloy membrane is 288.5 ± 12.4 MPa and 8.3 ± 0.4 MPa, respectively, which is 275.7 % and 96.7 % higher than that of the PMP membrane. Furthermore, PMP-PP-15 alloy HFM are fabricated under the optimum polymer composition. The elastic modulus of the PMP-PP-15 alloy HFM is 312.6 ± 16.0 MPa, which is 679.6 % higher than that of the PMP HFM and 40.1 % higher than that of the commercial PMP HFM. Meanwhile, the tensile strength and fracture stress are 15.4 ± 0.7 MPa and 186 ± 12.2 cN, respectively, which are both higher than those of the PMP and commercial PMP HFM. In addition, the PMP-PP-15 alloy HFM shows high gas permeability and oxygenation performance. This study might provide a convenient method to achieve rigidity reinforcement of PMP-based oxygenated membranes with great potential for application.

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